Carpet-raveling machine.



No. 75.378. Patented Dec. 9, 1902;

a. w. HEATH.

CARPET RAVELING MACHINE.

(Application med Nov. is; 1901.

4 Sheets-Sheet I.

(No Model.)

@ma igrl 4 atbomwga .No. 715,378. Patented Dec. 9. :902.

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No. 715,378. Patented new. 9, 1902.

G. W. HEATH. CARPET RAVELINB MACHINE.

I (Application filer Nam 18, 1901., (No Modal.) 4 Sheets-Sheet 3.

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TATES chosen WASHINGTON HEATH, on JACKSONVILLE, ILLINOIS.

CARPET-RAVELING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 715,378, dated December 9, 1902.

Application filed November 18, 1901.

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE WASHINGTON HEATH,a citizen of the United States, residing at Jacksonville, in the county of Morgan and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Carpet-Baveling Machines; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to a machine for raveling strips of carpet to prepare them to be woven into rugs. In treating strips of carpet for this purpose the side edges of the strips are raveled or fringed by cutting and loosening up or unweaviug the wefts holding the warps or body-strands together, a sufiicient number of the warps being left intact to form a body of adequate strength for weaving, the strips so prepared being woven together in the well-known way to form the rugs.

The object of the present invention is to provide a raveling apparatus which performs its work neatly and expeditiously, which is comparatively simple of construction and inexpensive of production, and which is readily adjustable to act upon strips of different widths and to compensate for wear.

A further object of the invention is to provide cutting mechanism composed of a minimum number of parts and adapted to efiect the clean cutting and raveling of the carpetstrips without tearing the same and without liability of becoming clogged or choked.

With these and other objects in view, which will readily appear as the nature of the invention is better understood, the same consists in certain novel features of construction and combination and arrangement of parts, which will be hereinafter fully described, defined in the appended claims, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a front elevation of a carpetraveling machine embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same. Fig. 3 is a top plan view. Fig. 4. is a vertical frontto-rear section taken on the line 4: 4 of Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is a top plan view of the cutting mechanism and cooperating parts on the line 5 5 of Fig. 1, the fan being removed to clearly show the means for adjusting the cutter-heads Serial NO- 82334. (No model.)

toward and away from each other. Fig. 6 is a detail view of the presser bar or plate of the cutting mechanism. Figs. 7 and 8 are opposite side views of one of the cutter-heads.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, the numeral 1 represents a suitable supporting-table or bed-plate, and 2 a driveshaft mounted to rotate in bearings thereon and carrying fast and loose pulleys 3 and ite cooperate with a beltleading from aline-shaft or suitable motor, and a pulley 5 for transmitting motion to the parts of the apparatus. This shaftextends longitudinally at one side of the table or bed-plate and may be mounted directly upon the bed-plate or upon suitable side supports, to which the bearings forsa shaft are attached. Extending parallel witn the drive-shaft are two cutter-head shafts 6 and 7, mounted in bearing standards or brainets 8, projecting upwardly from two parallel base-plates 9 and 10, which are adjustable in the manner hereinafter described toward and from each other to effect a corresponding adjustment of the cutter-heads. A-fourth shaft 11 is mounted above and on the line be tween the said two-shafts 6 and 7 in bearing brackets or standards 12, one of which extends upwardly from the bed-plate 1, while the other is attached to the base-plate 9. These three shafts 6, 7, and 11 are provided,

respectively,with belt-pulleys 12', 13, and 14,

around which and. the drive-pulley 5 a belt is adapted to be passed to transmit motion to all of the operating parts of the apparatus. Cutter-heads 15 and 16 are mounted upon the forward ends of the shafts 6 and 7, and their lower portions are arranged to move within the semicylindrical casings 17 and 18, supported by brackets 19 and 20, fixed to the bed-plate l. The rear ends of the shafts 6 and 7 are threaded for the reception of adjusting-nuts 21, whereby said shafts may be adjusted longitudinally to compensate for wear and to take up any excess play of said shafts and the parts connected therewith.

Journaled in bearings22. upon the front portion of the bed-plate is a transverse feedwheel shaft 23, which is provided at one end with an adj usting-nut 24 for moving it longitudinally in its hearings to compensate for wear and has fixed thereto a sprocket-wheel 24, around which passes a sprocket-chain 25,

connecting said wheel with a sprocket-wheel 26 on a counter-shaft 27, carrying a wormwheel 28, which meshes with a worm-gear 29 on the shaft 6, by which motion is transmitted from said shaft 6 to the feed-wheel shaft.

The cutter-heads 15 and 16 are rotated by the shafts 6 and 7 in reverse directions, as indicated by the arrows in Fig. 1, and are provided upon the opposite sides thereof with cutting-knives 30 and pickers 31. The cutting-knives 30 are fitted to slide in an annular series of slots 32, formed upon the front side of each cutter-head, and are attached thereto by screws or other suitable fastening devices 33. Each cutting-knife is provided at its opposite ends with hook-shaped beveled cutting edges 34, which are located at opposite points, so that the knife may be reversed to use either cutting edge at will. By this means should the cutting edge of either knife which is in use become dull or injured the knife may be quickly and conveniently reversed to bring the other cutting edge thereof into operative position. The pickers 31 are fitted in similar slots 34, formed in the rear faces of the cutter-heads, and are arranged in pairs,with the knives of each pair held separated by a suitable distance piece or block 35. The pickers are secured in position by screws or bolts or other suitable fastening devices 36 and have oppositely-beveled edges 37 to act upon the strip of carpet passing through the machine to loosen up the wefts or threads along the edges of the carpet-strip to prepare the same to be woven in the well-known way into a rug.

Fixed to the shaft 23 is a feed wheel or disk 37, which rotates on a line between the two cutter-heads 15 and 16 and is provided with a spurred or roughened periphery 38 for feeding the carpet-strips through the machine to be acted upon by the cutters and pickers. Located above this wheel or disk is a presser foot or plate 38 which is provided with slots 39 and 40 for the passage therethrough of the cuttingknives and pickers on the cutterheads while the latter are in rotation. The purpose of this presser foot or plate is to hold the carpet-strips into contact with the feed wheel or disk and prevent slipping of said strips while being fed through the machine. It is made adjustable to suit difierent thicknesses of strips. To this end it is connected to a cross-head 41, sliding vertically on guides 42, carried by standards 43, rising from the table or bed-plate 1. These standards are formed with shoulders 44 to limit the downward movement of the cross-head, and each partially covered at the front or feeding-in side of the machine by a guard-plate 47, secured to the inclined arms of the brackets 19.

In the operation of the apparatus the strips of carpet are fed through the machine from the front end thereof between the spurred periphery of the feed-disk and the presser foot or plate 43, which presser foot or plate holds them firmly in contact with the disk. As the strip is fed through by the action of the wheel the cutting-knives upon the front portion of the cutter-heads first come into contact with the side edges thereof and sever the exposed Warp and Weft threads, and then the pickers come into play and loosen up or unravel the threads so severed, thus placing the strip in condition to be used in the manufacture of rugs, the strips being woven together in the well-known manner. Difierences in the thickness of the strips which are to be operated upon are compensated for by adjusting the presser-foot 43 up or down through the medium of the adjusting-nuts 46. On passing the cutting-knives and pickers each strip is guided toward the rear of the machine by a spring-guard 48, secured to the rear end of the presser-foot and having an outwardlycurved lower end to guide the strips onto the bed or table, from which they may fall onto the floor or into a suitable receptacle.

In order to adapt the machine for operating upon carpet strips of different widths, mechanism is provided for adjusting the cutter-heads toward and from each other and toward and from the interposed presser-foot. This comprises two hand-wheels 49 and 50, each of which is rigidly connected with an adjusting screw 51, each screw having a smooth portion to turn freely in an apertured lug 52, fixed to the table or bed-plate 1, and a screw threaded end to work within a threaded opening in the lugs 53, fixed re spectively and rigidly connected to the two base-plates 9 and 10. By turning these handwheels in one direction or the other the baseplates and the shafts 6 and 7 carried thereby may be adjusted toward or from each other, and as the cu tter-heads are fixed to said shafts a corresponding movement will be imparted thereto, whereby they are moved closer together or farther apart to suit the width of the strip to be operated upon.

The standard 12 carries a bracket 54, to which is attached a casing 55, in which revolves an exhaust-fan 56, fixed to the forward end of the shaft 11, and this casing is provided with a discharge-chute 57 and a segmental conductor 58, leading down to a point just in rear of the two cutter-heads 15 and 16 and on a line between the same. The conductor is located in line with an opening 59 in the casing, and in operation when motion is imparted to the shaft 11 the fan will be rapidly rotated and create a suction. This action of the fan will cause the particles of dust, lint, &c., released and formed by the ICC action of the cutting-knives and pickers to be drawn into the casing and exhausted through the spout 57, which may lead to a suitable receptacle or point of discharge.

From the foregoing description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, the construction, mode of operation, and advantages of the invention will be readily understood, and it will be seen that by the action of the cutting-knives and pickers on the cutter-heads the side edges of the strips will be raveled in an effective manner to place the strip in proper condition to be woven with other strips into rugs and also that by means of the feeding-disk and the presserfoot codperating therewith the central portion of the strip will be held firmly and allowed to remain intact to form a body of adequate strength for weaving.

Various changes in the form, proportion, and the minor details of construction may be resorted to without departing from the principle or sacrificing any of the advantages of this invention, and Itherefore reserve to myself the right to make such changes as fairly fall within the scope thereof.

I claim- 1. In a carpet-raveling apparatus, the combination of a pair of cutter-heads, a feeddisk located between the same, a presser-foot acting to hold the carpet in contact with the periphery of said disk, cross-heads connected to the presser-foot, guides in said cross-heads, means for adjusting the cross-heads to move the presser-foot toward and from the periphcry of the feed-wheel, and means for imparting motion to said cutter-heads and feedwheel, substantially as specified.

2. In a carpet-raveling apparatus, a cutterhead provided upon opposite sides thereof with grooves, reversible cutting-knives seated in the grooves upon one side of the cutterhead, and pickers arranged in pairs and seated in the grooves upon the opposite side of the cutter-head and arranged in transverse alinement with the spaces between the cutting-knives, substantially as specified.

3. In a carpet-raveling apparatus, the combination of a pair of cutter-heads, shafts carrying such cutter-heads, base-pieces provided with hearings in which the.said shafts are mounted, adjusting screws for adjusting said base-pieces, the shafts and cutter-heads toward and from each other, a feed-wheel located between the cutter-heads, and an ad jnstable presser-foot codperating with said feed-wheel, substantially as and for the pur pose set forth.

4. In a carpet-raveling machine, a cutterhead having on one side a continuous series of radial cutters, and on the opposite side a corresponding series of pickers, the pickers being arranged in transverse aiiuement with the spaces between the cutters, substantially as described.

'5. In a carpet-raveling apparatus, acutterhead provided upon opposite sides thereof with grooves, cutting-knives seated in the grooves upon one side of the cutter-head, and pickers seated in the grooves upon the opposite side of the cutter-head and arranged in transverse alinement with the spaces between the cutting-knives, substantially as specified.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

GEORGE WASHINGTON HEATH.

\Vitnesses:

AMOS W. KELLOGG, W. J. MOORE. 

